Soccer, mostly, but some other stuff, too

Taking Attendance 7/22/2014: (Mostly) Final PDL Numbers

The USL Premier Development League regular season is in the books, and here (with some missing data) are the final attendance numbers for the top summer amateur league in the US and Canada. The Des Moines Menace led the league for the fifth time in the last six years, with an average announced attendance of 3,340 for their seven home games this season.

Team

G

Total

Avg.

Median

High

Low

Des Moines Menace

7

23,377

3,340

3,333

3,711

2,871

Portland Timbers U-23s

7

16,291

2,327

756

8,207

130

Fresno Fuego

#6

13,742

2,290

1,874

3,627

1,693

BYU Cougars

7

13,215

1,888

1,609

3,075

885

Carolina Dynamo

7

13,060

1,866

1,975

2,348

1,311

Austin Aztex

7

12,795

1,828

1,823

2,380

1,404

FC Tucson

7

9,717

1,388

1,098

2,983

1,012

Ventura County Fusion

7

9,256

1,322

1,121

2,100

900

Victoria Highlanders FC

7

9,201

1,314

1,378

1,461

1,057

Midland/Odessa Sockers FC

7

7,838

1,120

884

1,969

587

Albuquerque Sol F.C.

7

6,554

936

936

1,520

400

Western Mass Pioneers

7

6,367

910

1,048

1,456

317

Forest City London

7

5,436

777

650

1,307

369

Long Island Rough Riders

7

4,624

661

647

985

276

Thunder Bay Chill

#6

3,691

615

615

690

557

Laredo Heat

7

4,273

610

609

746

549

Mississippi Brilla

7

4,182

597

604

890

402

Michigan Bucks

7

4,160

594

402

1,238

252

Kitsap Pumas

7

3,242

463

460

562

370

Lane United FC

7

3,192

456

400

800

300

Sounders FC U23

7

2,895

414

308

1,012

234

Chicago Inferno

#2

749

375

375

403

346

Las Vegas Mobsters

@3

1,125

375

350

450

325

Ocala Stampede

7

2,600

371

214

1,075

106

SW Florida Adrenaline

@3

1,104

368

380

403

321

Ocean City Nor’easters

@3

1,097

366

424

521

152

Reading United AC

7

2,546

364

316

609

209

GPS Portland Phoenix

2

650

325

325

400

250

K-W United FC

$4

1,225

306

283

437

222

Vermont Voltage

7

2,106

301

300

450

156

Panama City Beach Pirates

7

2,043

292

265

450

215

San Jose Earthquakes

@3

871

290

286

400

185

CFC Azul

7

1,950

279

250

450

250

St. Louis Lions

7

1,884

269

280

396

160

Cincinnati Dutch Lions

7

1,754

251

235

352

151

Toronto Lynx

#6

1,350

225

175

600

100

Baltimore Bohemians

7

1,523

218

207

393

103

Northern Virginia Royals

**5

1,018

204

189

323

126

SoCal Seahorses

7

1,385

198

240

270

105

Real Colorado Foxes

#6

1,145

191

175

400

20

WSA Winnipeg

7

1,255

179

200

275

70

SWVa King’s Warriors

7

1,203

172

188

204

125

Seacoast United Phantoms

7

1,200

171

100

350

100

F.A. Euro

$4

665

166

170

300

25

LA Misioneros FC

#6

980

163

100

400

80

River City Rovers

!2

325

163

163

175

150

Real Boston Rams

7

1,114

159

150

224

75

Jersey Express

7

963

138

125

205

88

West Virginia Chaos

7

965

138

135

220

50

Puget Sound Gunners FC

@3

400

133

60

300

40

Springfield Demize

6

729

122

132

172

58

Houston Dutch Lions

7

833

119

113

200

80

Washington Crossfire

7

788

113

100

265

70

Pittsburgh Riverhounds U23

#6

660

110

93

175

75

NJ LUSO Parma

#6

650

108

100

150

50

IMG Academy Bradenton

7

740

106

100

150

90

Floridians F.C.

@2

197

99

99

105

92

Vancouver Whitecaps U-23

7

667

95

77

177

77

Montreal Impact U23

#6

550

92

88

150

25

Westchester Flames

7

520

74

65

135

40

Chicago Fire U-23

**5

353

71

78

116

16

OC Pateadores Blues

7

325

46

50

50

30

Orlando City U23

&0

0

0

0

0

0

SC United Bantams

&0

0

0

0

0

0

PDL TOTAL

375

221,315

590

278

8,207

16

# Missing 1 game

** Missing 2 games

$ Missing 3 games

@ Missing 4 games

! Missing 5 games

& Missing 7 games

NOTES:

Orlando City U23 and the SC United Bantams did not announce attendance figures for any of their games this season. I am missing 55 other data points for 2014, ranging from one to five missing games for various clubs. I don’t think the missing numbers reasonably impact the conclusions we can draw in most cases.

While 10 teams averaged 1,000 or more per game this season, more than half the league can’t get 300 a game on average.

If the World Cup raised interest in the sport throughout the country, it wasn’t expressed in PDL attendance. The league averaged 621 per game before the Cup, dropped to 556 during and then rebounded a bit to 585 afterwards.

FC Tucson has quietly built something over time. From an average of 681 in their first season (2012), they grew to an 800 average last year and ranked seventh in the PDL this season at 1,388. They’ll host the Western Conference semifinals and final this weekend.

Austin (with a game missing – anyone who can help a brother out, it would be appreciated) averaged 1,804 in its final season in the amateur ranks. The Aztex will move up to USL Pro next season, and hopefully it goes better than other PDL clubs that have tried their hand at turning pro.

I know this has been asked brazillions of times, but I’ve never heard a thoughtful response: With Des Moines’ consistent attendance (that would put in square in USL Pro and NASL figures) and kinda-central location, why hasn’t one of the pro leagues made a move to add them?

I think Des Moines considered it once – briefly – when they were going to build their own stadium, but, again, you are asking the wrong question.

What, exactly, is in it for Des Moines? They are one of the longest-runni PDL teams going. Why should they add additional expense to what must be a reasonable financial equation when there is ( a ) no reasonable expectation they would bring in sufficient extra revenue to keep the equation working and ( b ) the history of amateur teams that have turned pro is, on balance, not positive?

Each step up is roughly an order of magnitude in additional needed revenues. Big organizational and infrastructure-related jumps and remember this has little/no credibility – it’s possibly worse as the numbers are likely outdated and much higher.

People will only follow D1 teams, others will support local football. It depends what your main reasons for following a team are such as personal connections, local pride, entertainment, prestige, proximity, ability to attend live, &c.

In Washington State there’s a new one of these USASA elite leagues that are supposedly sanctioned in the ephemeral US soccer pyramid of ether at the same level as USL PDL and NPSL (whatever that means – different allocation or entry point of pre-US Open Cup qualification in the future?) Who knows?

Bottom line: if Des Moines gets an owner that *wants* to step up in class and/or gets an SSS built, it’ll happen. If not, the Menace is doing just fine where they are. (Actually, if they “go pro” probably the first thing they’ll do is ditch that 1990s-sounding name. “Des Moines FC”, anyone…?!)